Host Societies and the Reception of Immigrants: Research Themes,Emerging Theories and Methodological Issues

Research on the reception and integration of immigrants now recognizes more explicitly the impact that characteristics of societies have as they play host to immigrants. This brief introduction to six papers — by Kasinitz, Mollenkopf and Waters; Boyd; Model and Lin; Borjas; Martin; and Castles — shows how they reflect a research emphasis on four interrelated features of host societies: 1) pre‐existing ethnic and race relations, 2) labor markets and related institutions, 3) government policies and programs both for immigration and for broader institutional regulation, and 4) the changing nature of international boundaries, part of the process of globalization. Cultural dimensions permeate analyses of each of these four aspects. Together with others in a larger collection of 18 papers developing this theme (scheduled for publication as a book by the Centre for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California at San Diego), the various analyses suggest elements useful in constructing a theory of immigrant reception and incorporation taking proper account of the impact of host societies.